A visually stunning guide to the physical world of a profoundly spiritual, wildly imaginative writer

Reviews

"One must be grateful to Sarah Gordon—one of America's leading O'Connor scholars—for her A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia. Her study is comprehensive, constituting an in­depth exploration of the Georgia places that were central in O'Connor's life. The book provides an intimate view of O'Connor's world and a superb introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the author's work."
—Georgia Review

"A visually pleasing, compact book that is easy for fans of O’Connor to tote around as they explore the places associated with the great writer’s life in Georgia."
—Flannery O'Connor Review

Description

Flannery O’Connor spent most of her life in Georgia. Most of O’Connor’s fiction is also set in the state, in locales rich in symbolism and the ambience of southern rural and small-town life. Filled with contemporary and historical photos, this guide introduces O’Connor’s readers to the places where the great writer lived and worked—places whose features and details sometimes found their way into her fiction.

The guide describes such places as O’Connor’s childhood home in Savannah; the Governor’s Mansion, Cline House, and Central State Hospital in Milledgeville; and the family farm, Andalusia. Numerous facts about O’Connor and the people closest to her are woven into the site descriptions, as are critical observations about her Catholicism, her acute sense of character and place, and her fierce sense of humor.

Sarah Gordon is a professor emerita of English at Georgia College and State University. She was for many years the chair of her university’s internationally renowned symposia on O’Connor. In addition she was the editor of the Flannery O’Connor Bulletin and the founding editor of the Flannery O’Connor Review. Her books include Flannery O’Connor: The Obedient Imagination and Flannery O’Connor: In Celebration of Genius. Craig Amason is executive director both of Andalusia, the Flannery O’Connor house museum, and of the Flannery O’Connor-Andalusia Foundation. Marcelina Martin’s photography has been published in numerous periodicals, including Southern Exposure and Calyx, and in such books as The Southern Ethic and Women See Woman. She lives in Milledgeville.